


Repressed Feelings

by PrinceKapitan



Series: Finding That Even Ground [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Denial of Feelings, F/F, Lesbian Chloé Bourgeois, Regret, Rivals to Lovers, Secret Relationship, Self-Acceptance, Sexual Repression, chlonette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25622923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceKapitan/pseuds/PrinceKapitan
Summary: For many years Chloé Bourgeois had been in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ever since she could remember, all she wanted was her. To have her in her life anyway she could. Unfortunately, her family disapproves of the idea of their daughter dating someone of lower class. This leads Chloé to attempt to fight the feelings by pushing Marinette away from her. However, said feelings begin to grow stronger and one day they come to a head...
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Sabrina Raincomprix, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois & Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois & Sabrina Raincomprix, Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki
Series: Finding That Even Ground [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977196
Comments: 19
Kudos: 235





	1. Chapter 1

It was a warm summer night in Paris. Everyone was fast asleep and not an akuma in sight. In Le Grand Hotel, a young blonde named Chloé Bourgeois slept in her king sized bed. Her friend Sabrina Raincomprix slept next to her. The two were having a sleepover, having just finished one of Chloe’s favorite movies, “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

The two were sound asleep as Chloé dreamt. She dreamt of herself in a pink aura with someone she supposedly hated. That someone was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. “Shall we Chloé?” The two stripped down to their underwear and dove into a swimming pool. They swam around underwater, somehow able to breathe and speak. After doing some laps beneath the surface, the two girls approached one another and held hands, gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Marinette.”

“Yes Chloé?”

“Kiss me.” The two leaned in to lock their soft lips when suddenly Chloé awoke. 

She was breathing heavily and sweating bullets, heart racing too. She had another dream with her. Why could these not stop? “I am not in love with Marinette, I am not in love with Marinette.” She told herself. 

The blonde went to the bathroom and began splashing water on her face, trying anything she could to get the thoughts out of her head. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was supposed to be her rival whom she had loathed for so long, so why had she always felt a warm fuzzy feeling with her? These dreams had been a recurring thing. They started a long time ago when Chloé first met Marinette.

There was something about the girl that Chloé just couldn’t put her finger on. Something about her she loved. All she knew is ever since she had laid eyes on her, she felt a sense of warmth and happiness. Sadly, she was never given a chance to pursue that love. 

“Chloé, we do not associate with those of such status,” her father told her. “She’s a baker’s daughter, middle class. I can’t have you be friends with her. Sabrina is one thing, but her? I’m sorry Chloé. Your mother would never approve.”

Saddened, Chloé had gone to her room and sobbed. She wanted to be friends with this fun pretty girl, but sadly her status prevented this. Chloé was pretty smart for her age and had already learned how to read and write at a ninth grade level at the age of ten. So naturally she learned her parents had gotten to where they were by stepping on people. This led her to a rather mislead conclusion. If she were to step on Marinette, maybe this would allow her to uphold her status and possibly make those feelings go away. As much as it pained her to do it, she felt it was the only way.

So the next four years saw her belittling and teasing Marinette, even pulling the occasional prank. She was laughing on the surface, but alas it was only because she was an amazing actress. Internally, her heart was broken, having to humiliate the one girl she had loved just to uphold and maintain her status. To even keep a roof over her head. “I’m sorry Marinette,” she said to herself at the end of every day. It wasn’t an easy task, not to mention the feelings never went away. In fact they only grew stronger. She began to have dreams more frequently and as she got older they had even become a little sexual. Hormones raging, having to do all this just to prevent herself from being shamed by her mother and father, or even worse disowned. It was a heavy weight.

The only one she felt she could trust with this was her friend Adrien. He knew the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. “Chloé, I’m sorry,” he would say to her. Everyday he’d be her shoulder to cry on. As someone else who had to put up a facade everyday, he felt every ounce of pain she had received. It was the sole reason he had written her behavior off as “Chloé, just being Chloé.” She couldn’t turn it off, not when her parent’s reputation was at stake. On some days, she’d starve herself as punishment just to suffer with Marinette. Eventually, Adrien found out about this too and put an end to it, unwilling to allow his friend to harm herself over this.

At this point in her life she had fallen for Ladybug, who ironically was the one girl she had loved for so long. Ladybug had been the one thing Chloé ever wanted to be. And that was free. Ladybug wasn’t bound by any family, she didn’t have to keep any secrets aside from her identity and to top it all off she was a leader. Something Chloé has aspired to be. Only problem is no one would follow her aside from Sabrina.

Fast forward to now, nothing changed. Her feelings for Marinette continued to grow stronger, but nothing could be done, not while she was a Bourgeois. As odd as it was and as much as she despised the story, the fashion designer was essentially Romeo to her Juliet.

The blonde had just finished washing her face, then going to bed. Sabrina woke up, having heard all the commotion. “Chloé, are you okay?” The bespectacled girl asked. Sabrina was rather oblivious to Chloé’s crush. But she was the only other person who knew how Chloé felt and what she was going through.

“I’m fine Sabrina, just a bad dream,” Chloé told her. “Just… a bad… dream.” Those words repeated in her head. The dream itself wasn’t bad. It was her life. Her life was the bad dream and unlike many bad dreams, this one only ends when she goes to sleep.

“Just know I’m here for you.” Sabrina wrapped her arms around Chloé’s waist. She snuggled her, doing her utmost to calm her friend down. She felt the blonde’s heartbeat, it was going fast. “It happened again didn’t it?” She asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Chloé muttered, tears forming at her eyes. She held the rest back, not wanting to let Sabrina see her cry. However, the redhead reached up and wiped the blonde’s eyes for her. “Hey! I wasn’t crying, I was just yawning!”

“But you didn’t yawn Chloé.”

“I did, you just didn’t hear it!” Chloé insisted, she was adamant that she wasn’t crying. Sabrina however, knew the truth. She could tell her friend was heartbroken, so she kept silent. She knew that pointing out the obvious would only hurt or upset her more. Eventually, the two girls went to sleep. Sabrina wondered if Chloé was going to be okay. Chloé wondered if she ever had any chance with Marinette. No matter how hard she tried she could never get over her. For now however, she slept. Hoping the pain would eventually go away… one way or another.

Morning broke and Chloé awoke. “Sabrina, get up! Another day in paradise!”

“I’m ready when you are Chloé,” The redhead chirped.

The blonde bathed, got dressed and applied her makeup, prepping for another day at the hell she called school, another facade that she was ready to put up, another day in the presence of... the forbidden fruit known as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. All dolled up and ready to go, the two entered their limo, unaware that today was going to be like no other day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chloé’s limo pulled up to Collège Françoise Dupont. She stared down the school taking deep breaths as to get into character.

“Ready Chloé?” Sabrina asked.

“Of course I’m ready, it’s you who should worry about being ready.” Chloé replied, completely in character and ready to put up her usual façade.

The two stepped out of their limo, immediately seeing Marinette and Alya walking up to class. The duo trailed behind, Chloé’s eyes completely locked on Marinette as if she was the only thing she could see. Even as they entered the classroom and went to their seats Chloé didn’t take her eyes off of Marinette until she was out of her line of sight.

Marinette and Alya sat in their seats ready to brave the day. “So girl, psyched for this trip?” The brunette asked.

“Barely got any sleep over it, I feel so groggy how do I look?” Marinette asked.

“Like a goodie two-shoes baker girl who put said shoes on the wrong feet.” Chloé answered.

“I wasn’t asking you Chloé!” The heroine said.

“Well I’m telling you.” She replied.

Marinette turned away from the blonde. “Anyway, you got your ticket Alya?”

“Girl, I always got my ticket. Gonna get some good photo-ops too.” Alya held out her camera smugly.

“It’s just to Toulouse, don’t get too carried away.” Marinette said, slowly putting the camera back in her friend's purse.

Miss Bustier came in, to do her usual teachings. The class barely listened, psyched about this trip. Chloé took a gaze at Marinette once more, it killed her. Seeing Marinette so happy, so fun-loving, so… free. Chloé wanted that, that feeling, that freedom, that warmth. Most of all, she wanted her.

As Miss Bustier finished her brief lecture, the class headed to the train. On the way however, Marinette tripped and dropped her ticket! “Aaah no!” Marinette chased after it, running as fast as she could. 

Chloé caught eye of this and silently followed. “Sabrina save my spot.” The blonde said, darting towards the heroine who was in a frantic rush to catch the ticket. She stayed a fair distance back as to not be seen. The ticket however blew right over the river out of Marinette’s reach. “Nooo!” The heroine yelled. “I lost my ticket Tikki.” She glumly muttered to her kwami.

But as she lamented her clumsiness, Chloé sprinted towards the river, now in her underwear. She swan dived off the rail, clutched the ticket and placed it in her bra mid-air. In Marinette’s mind this was all in slow-motion. Did what she thought just happened really just happen? Unfortunately reality hit Chloé like a truck as she splashed into the water.

“Chloé!” Marinette called out. With haste she stripped down as well and jumped in to save her, but the blonde emerged next to her. The two swam to shore.

“Seems your clumsiness almost killed me Dupain-Cheng! Here’s your stupid ticket!” Chloé slammed it in her hand.

“What the hell was that Chloé?! You could’ve drowned!” Marinette yelled.

“Well, I figured I’d let you watch me be the amazing person you’ll never be. You’d have never done something like that.” Chloé turned back to Marinette and playfully booped her nose. “But it’s good to know you still care if I die.”

“You’re crazy, that was reckless!” Marinette said, blushing furiously at the sight of a half-naked Chloé.

“Reckless? Please, I didn’t drown. Plus you got your stupid ticket back, I mean how am I gonna make fun of you on this trip if you’re not even here to enjoy it?” The blonde snarked.

“So you nearly drowned yourself just to tease me? That’s stupid Chloé.” The heroine snarked back.

“No you’re stupid, and now we’re both gonna be late if we don’t hurry up. Thanks for wasting my time Dupain-Cheng!” They got their clothes back on as soon as they could and made haste for the train. By the time the duo got there it had finished boarding passengers.

“We’re part of this class too!” Marinette yelled. She and Chloé flashed their tickets. The train doors opened, the two just barely getting on as the train began it’s departure.

“Now I’m gonna go rest while I come up with ways to make fun of you. You owe me one.” Chloé sounded annoyed, but she had the biggest smile on her face as if she had just won something big. She went to her seat to talk to Sabrina, while Marinette went to talk to Alya.

“Hey girl, you’re late. What happened?” Alya asked.

“Just dropped my ticket, had to get it.” Marinette replied. She was still debating whether or not to tell Alya what had happened. The image of Chloé swan diving after her ticket replayed in her head numerous times. That was easily the most unexpected thing she had seen today.

“Well what was Chloé doing with you?” Alya asked.

“I don’t know, but she… caught the ticket and gave it back to me.” Marinette replied.

Alya just about burst out laughing. “Chloé? Helping you? That can’t be real.”

Marinette looked at Chloé who had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal. Seeing her do something so daring, so cool. Much more getting a look at that body of her’s. Marinette began to question if she was falling for her. She had seen Alya in the buff many times while making measurements for her outfits without issue. So why was seeing Chloé like that getting her so flustered?

Sabrina meanwhile, finally spoke to Chloé. “What happened over there, Chloé?”

“Nothing of importance, just showed Dupain-Cheng how amazing I am.” Internally though, she was squealing with excitement. It had been nearly an exact replica of her dream. Sadly, all that was missing was the kiss. That said, getting a look at Marinette’s body she realized she truly was much more beautiful in person. Clearly she kept herself fit. Not quite supermodel fit, but still fit.

“Okay Chloé.” Sabrina replied.

Back at her seat Marinette noticed Alya fell asleep. She went up to get some food from the cafe car. It was mostly empty so Marinette felt she could have a moment to herself to reflect upon the moment once more. She sipped her latte, wondering what the real reason was for Chloé saving her ticket.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” A voice said. Without a doubt it was Chloé with the smuggest smirk anyone could have. “It would appear my debtor was in the need of a latte.”

“Debtor?”

Chloé sat by her. “I did say you owe me one.” She said, playfully poking her all over her body with each word.

“Fine, I get it. What do you want?” Marinette muttered.

Chloé paused once more, her tongue was suddenly getting tied and struggling to find the words. Being around Marinette for this long was turning her into a nervous wreck. “You know what never mind, I haven’t decided yet.” Chloé darted off in her usual arrogant huff. Marinette gazed at her.

“That was weird.” She told herself. However, her curiosity ended up getting the better of her and she followed Chloé. Why was she feeling this way all of a sudden? What caused her to see her rival in such a different light? It was all so unclear, but she knew the answer she was given for the ticket thing was a complete load. She had to find out the truth, any way she could.


	3. Chapter 3

As she marched down the coach; steps explosive and curiosity peaked, Marinette approached Chloé with a look of uncertainty on her face. As the blonde met her eyes, the tense look turned to a smug smirk. The heroine folded her arms. “I want to know the real reason you saved my ticket.” She said.

“The real reason? I told you the real reason, if you think I’d ever do it for you then you’re dead wrong.” The blonde replied, matching her rival’s smugness.

“That’s a shame, I thought it was pretty cool.” Marinette said.

Internally, Chloé squealed the happiest squeal you could imagine. Externally however, she turned her head. “Of course it was, I’m fabulous. Anything I do is cool.” She was unable to stifle her smile.

“You don’t wanna admit it do you?” Marinette said, pointing at her playfully. “You’re too ‘cool’ to admit that you have a heart.”

“C-cause I don’t.” The blonde stuttered, confirming Marinette’s suspicions.

The heroine stifled her snicker. “Well if you really want me to zip my lips about it I will.” She leaned in whispering. “In fact it can be our little secret.” She said right in her ear. “No one needs to know, not even Alya or Sabrina.”

Now Chloé thought Marinette was acting strange. She does one good thing for her and she acts like Chloé’s some kind of celebrity. Why was she so interested in her all of a sudden? What changed? “Okay fine, I felt like helping you.” She said in a snooty tone, this time managing to look her crush in the eye, only barely though.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Marinette said. She placed her hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “Just remember I still owe you one.”

Chloé finally began to relax. “I expect full payment! When the time comes.” With that, the duo returned to their seats just as Marinette finished her latte.

“Girl what was that all about?” Alya asked.

“Oh nothing, just sorting out a little mess I should’ve sorted out long ago.” Marinette replied. She could not take her eyes off of Chloé.

“You go girl.” Alya said obliviously.

For the next hour of the train ride the two kept glancing at each other, unsure what to make of the situation. Nobody really noticed, all of them too focused on the scenery. Finally Marinette whispered to Alya. “I’ll be right back.” She ran to the train’s bathroom and locked the door. Out came Tikki. “Hey Tikki, I really needed to talk to you.”

“It’s about Chloé isn’t it Marinette?” The little kwami asked.

“Yes, I’m just so conflicted Tikki. I think I might be in love with her. But I already love Adrien and now I’m torn between them.” Marinette splashed some water on her face. “You are not in love with Chloé. You are not in love with Chloé. You can’t be, you love Adrien.”

Tikki placed her little hand on her wielder’s shoulder. “It’s okay to be in love with more than one person Marinette, you just need to be honest with them and yourself.”

Marinette took a breath. “Thank you Tikki, it’s just me and Chloé have been at odds for so long. So when she jumped for my ticket like that, it was like I was looking at a whole new Chloé. Like I thought I was dreaming.”

“Maybe this is the real Chloé that you never truly got to know.” Tikki suggested.

“Maybe, but why did I get so giddy seeing her half-naked? I mean I’ve never gotten like this seeing Alya or Juleka or any of the other girls change when I was sizing them up for their outfits, or even during locker room changes.” Marinette recalled the times in the locker room. “Then again, I’ve never seen Chloé changing. Probably because she does it so fast.”

“Or maybe because you never noticed.” Tikki said.

She had a point, Marinette never really paid much attention to her in the locker room, but even if she had been in and out like a light surely she’d have at least caught a glance. Then again, it was the locker room. In this particular instance Chloé did it in broad daylight to swim for a ticket as clothes would’ve weighed her down in the water. She had a lot to consider.

The heroine looked in the mirror once more. “Maybe I never did get to know the real Chloé, maybe if I did we could… no we would do better. But even then, why did she seem so happy helping me? I know she said she felt like it, but to that magnitude? She could’ve drowned.” She glanced at her kwami. “Tikki, tell me you didn’t believe that flimsy excuse she made.”

Tikki shook her head. “It did seem suspicious. Even when she said she felt like it she sounded like she was hiding something.”

“Well I’m gonna find out one way or another.” Marinette exited the bathroom and walked back to her seat. As she sat down she glanced at Chloé’s seat. The blonde was fast asleep, Sabrina as usual catering to her every need.

“Ain't this scene beautiful girl?” Alya asked. “Girl?” She noticed Marinette staring in Chloé’s direction once more, but did not seem to notice she was staring at Chloé herself. The blogger snapped her fingers. “Hey girl, you alive?”

Marinette out of her trance. “Uh… yeah. It’s really pretty. I was uh… just admiring this train too. It’s so beautiful!”

Alya cocked a brow. “That it is.” She replied.

Marinette pondered telling Alya the truth, but at the same time she knew since it involved Chloé it wouldn’t be pretty. The rest of the trip was rather quiet between them all. Marinette and Alya gave the occasional grunt to one another and said no more than one sentence. Chloé was still fast asleep and that left Sabrina all alone to twiddle her thumbs on her phone. Throughout it all, Marinette’s eyes were still very locked on Chloé.

As the train stopped at Toulouse, Chloé woke up. “Ah we’re here finally.” The blonde grabbed her bag and nudged Sabrina, who had also fallen asleep. “Get up!” The whole class disembarked, ready to explore Toulouse.

“Aren’t you excited for this Chloé?” Sabrina asked.

“Of course, I can look good in front of anything.” The blonde replied.

As Chloé stopped to take a selfie, Marinette exited the train and tripped. Chloé caught a glance and instinctively caught her. The dark-haired girl gazed up at the blonde, her face was bright red and her heart was racing. The blonde stared back; sporting the same rosy red cheeks, heart rate matching her rival’s.

Alya stepped out after, confused at the whole exchange. Chloé scoffed at the ladyblogger. “You need to keep your Dupain-Cheng on a leash, I had to keep her from falling and breaking something.” She said, still holding the heroine as if she were a priceless antique.

Marinette got up, but all she could do was giddily giggle. “Thank you.” She sheepishly replied.

“Maybe now you’ll learn to trust me more.” Chloé said, smugly posing as if someone were to take her picture. Her and Sabrina walked away.

“As if, bet that she caught you by accident.” Alya snarked. Once more Marinette was in a trance. “Hey girl, you feeling okay? I know that was shocking, but dang.”

Marinette snapped out of it. “Oh, uh… yeah. Didn’t expect that.” She shrugged. “Kind of embarrassing though.”

Alya giggled. “Just watch your step girl, she just might steal you next time.”

“She already has.” She thought to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

Marinette and Alya had fun snapping photos all day, both giving silly poses and even just hanging around. “Get enough photos Miss Reporter?” Marinette asked.

“Girl, I got enough to make a scrapbook.”

“Hey guys,” Nino said, with Adrien in tow.

“Hey Nino. Hey Adrien.” The two replied.

Seeing Adrien just tied Marinette’s mind in a knot, with what happened at the river and how her feelings for the boy still loomed, it made her question herself. “So how much did you get?” Marinette asked.

“We got a bit.” Nino said. “Battery died though.”

“Ooooh bummer.” Alya said.

“Well I got a lot.” Chloé bragged, suddenly from behind. Sabrina in tow.

“Yeah it’s probably like 95% selfies.” Marinette quipped.

“Toulouse just loves my beautiful face, can you blame me for wanting to express it Dupain-Cheng? Besides, not like you could even compete.”

“Oh yeah?” Marinette said.

“Yeah,” Chloé huffed.

“Well, I’ll be treating us all to lunch. I suppose I could offer you some, unless being seen with us is too much for you.” Marinette teased.

“I’ll go,” Sabrina chirped.

“Fine, but only because it means more money you have to spend. Might as well be on me, right?” Chloé huffed.

“Should be lucky she’s treating you at all; if it were me, I’d let you starve,” Nino said. Chloé rolled her eyes at him. “I’m kidding.”

With that, the six of them went for lunch. The six of them were surprisingly getting along well.

“So, I nearly fell off here,” Nino said, showing the picture of his idiotic attempt to stand one-footed on a statue.

“And let me guess, maybe the statue would catch you.” Chloé snarked. This earned a rather surprising laugh out of Marinette.

“Good one Chloé.” She said.

Alya mouthed, “what the fuck?” at Nino, who simply shrugged. 

“So what about you Alya?” Adrien asked.

“Well, we were getting some good poses until Kunoichi over here decided to run along the wall.” Alya said.

“Hey at least I got the reflexes.” Marinette snarked.

“Oh? And what does that mean?” Alya asked playfully.

“Guess I out ninja you.” Marinette joked back.

“I’d be scared to see you with nunchucks.” Chloé snarked once more.

“You underestimate my art.” She said to Chloé in a fake accent. “Xīwàng zhíjiē kàn dào tā? (希望直接看到它？) (Wish to see it first hand?)”

“You know I can speak whatever you just said,” Chloé said. “But yes, I do ‘wish to see it first hand.’ Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette laughed once more. “She actually got it right.”

Chloé scoffed. “What? You seriously don’t think I do my research? Well, Sabrina does it for me, but still.”

“Okay Chloé, why don’t you show us a few of your selfies?” Alya asked.

The blonde scrolled through the phone, showing the endless amounts of glamorous poses she struck. “Ha! This is so funny.” Marinette said.

“Of course they are, I can make anyone laugh,” Chloé said, posing triumphantly.

“Bet you can,” Marinette said, giggling a bit at the end of that sentence.

“Now I’m going to go give this city one last look at my beauty, Sabrina you coming?” Chloé asked.

“Yes Chloé.” She replied.

The two left, leaving the remaining four alone.

“Nice to see everyone having fun,” Adrien said.

Alya’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah, about that…” She motioned to Marinette. “Girl, can I talk to you alone for a second?”

“Sure Alya.” She replied.

The girls went over to the corner of the restaurant’s balcony. “Okay, what the hell was that?” Alya asked.

“What the hell was what?” Marinette replied, shrugging.

“You were practically gushing over literally everything Chloé just said like some giddy fangirl. ‘Ha ha ha, that’s so funny Chloé’ that was you this whole meal.” Alya said, looking slightly irritated. “Either you forgot who Chloé is or something’s going on.”

“What? I thought it was funny, plus I treated her to a meal, might as well butter her up a little, right?” Marinette replied nervously.

The blogger was suspicious. “Yeah, well you didn’t need to kiss her ass the whole meal, doesn’t she have Sabrina to do that?”

“Oh… uh… yeah. Totally an ass kisser. In fact, her lips always look so puckered dat ass might as well be married to her.” Marinette quipped.

Alya raised an eyebrow, still not completely convinced Marinette is telling the truth. “Well, next time could you not pucker up so much? I mean, you wanna save those lips for Adrien, right?”

Marinette nervously chuckled. “Uhhh… right. Besides, it’s not like there’s gonna be a next time anyway.” She shrugged.

The two went back to finish their meal. The conversation stayed civil, but Marinette still had her mind of Chloé. She even had Adrien right in front of her on top of all of it. Once the meal was done, she asked the boy. “Hey Adrien, can I talk to you alone for a moment?”

Adrien nodded. “I can catch up later, Nino.”

“Sure,” Nino replied, him and Alya dispersing.

“So shoot… just don’t hit me anywhere vital.” He joked.

“Damn, his inner Cat Noir is really showing.” She thought to herself. “So uh… I was wondering…” She began.

“Go on.” The model replied.

“I wanted to try something out… for scientific purposes.” The girl twiddles her thumbs nervously.

“What? You wanna experiment on me? Happy to be your test subject.” Adrien said.

Marinette let out a sardonic chuckle. “Anyway, I was wondering if you could kiss me. I need... to know something.”

“Sure, cheek? Lips? Where?” He asked.

“Oh, lips will do.” She replied.

“So quick kiss, slow kiss?” He asked once more.

“However you want,” Marinette said. She leaned in; the boy returned the gesture. It lasted about 2 seconds.

“Well?” Adrien asked. “Was I good?”

Marinette paused a moment. She expected fireworks to go off, but she didn’t feel any of that. Maybe a little spark, but nothing really telling her about love. “That wasn’t how I pictured it at all.” She told herself.

“Hey Marinette, you there?” Adrien asked, snapping his fingers.

“Uh… sorry.” She said, her head sank. “Guess I wasn’t attracted to you after all.”

Adrien cocked a brow. “So, this was to see if you were?” He asked.

Marinette sheepishly nodded. “Don’t get me wrong; your kissing isn’t bad. It was actually really good, it's just…” She paused for a moment.

“You love someone else now, and you think your feelings for this person might be stronger?” Adrien asked. “Makes sense, I thought I was that way with someone, but it turns out my feelings for this other girl were stronger.”

“Yeah…” Marinette told herself. Unsure what to think at the moment.

“So, who is this person?” He wondered.

Marinette dropped her head. “Well, I’m not sure she’d like it if I told you.”

“Oh, so it’s a she?” He said. “Someone we know by chance?”

“Y-yeah.” She stammered.

Adrien placed his hand on her shoulder. “Well, hope she’ll realize how much of a catch you are.” He winked and left to board the train home, leaving Marinette to collect her thoughts. 

Meanwhile, Chloé looked ready to punch the first thing she saw. Putting up this façade was normally easy for her, but today it was different. “Why’d you have to be such a damn soft-touch today, Chloé?” The blonde told herself. Seeing Marinette practically gush over her at lunch made her feel good when in her mind it wasn’t supposed to. Could the forbidden fruit actually be falling for the blonde? As she and Sabrina boarded the train, they bumped into Adrien.

“Sorry about that, Chlo.” He said.

“Oh relax, Adrikins, guess Dupain-Cheng’s clumsiness is rubbing off on you.” She replied.

And that’s when it hit him, the girl Marinette was talking about was Chloé, which would explain why she was so giddy around her earlier. He pondered telling Chloé but realized it wasn’t his place to out Marinette’s crush. So he simply cleared his throat. “Let’s catch some good seats so that we’re not stuck in the back or something.” He said.

Chloé dug through her bag and realized her phone was missing. “Oh damn it, I must’ve left it back at the restaurant!” She rushed back.

“Shall we?” Adrien asked. Sabrina followed him in.

She ran back to find Marinette packing up her bag. “Where is it? Where is it?!”

“Where’s what?” Marinette asked.

“My phone!” Chloé replied, panicking.

The designer pulled it out of her bag. “This one?”

The blonde quickly snatched it. “I suppose I should be grateful.” She said.

“Thank you, would’ve done just fine, you know?” Marinette said sardonically. “So, I guess my debt is paid?”

“That doesn’t count because I never chose it!” Chloé said.

“Hey! That’s not fair. I didn’t choose to make you grab my ticket!” Marinette replied.

The blonde walked up to the designer. “If you think we’re even, you’re dead wrong!”

“Always putting up this dumb act every day aren’t you?!” She asked the blonde.

She scoffed. “What are you talking about? You don’t know the real me! The real me would never help you!”

“Back to not making sense, I see!” Marinette grimaced. “I bet you’ll--” but without thinking, Chloé grabbed Marinette’s shirt and pulled her into a kiss. The designer was shell-shocked. Her insides were flipping like an acrobat. Instinctively she began kissing back, but the blonde pushed her back, realizing what she just did.

“What was that?!” She yelled.

“What are you talking about?! I was just doing what you were doing!” Marinette replied. Chloé stood still for a moment, processing what she just did before running off, embarrassed. Marinette touched her lips, realizing she had felt the spark she was searching for when she kissed Adrien earlier. “Chloé, wait!” She yelled. But Chloé was too humiliated to listen. All her hard work to keep Marinette out of her mind was in vain. What happened? What prompted her to kiss her? Any other day and she would have resisted, but this time it was different. They boarded the train, once more being the last two to do so.


	5. Chapter 5

The mood was dead silent. Chloé glanced back at Marinette, but did not display any feelings of hostility. Instead she looked ashamed, defeated, like she had just been punched in the face and spat on. Without thought Marinette sat next to her friend. “Hey Alya.” She said.

“Hey girl, see you were the last two on.” She replied.

Suddenly Chloé came up to the duo. “Move.” She said to Alya.

“Uhh… excuse me?” The blogger replied.

“Mr. DJ over there is without a seat and Adrikins wanted to sit next to Sabrina for whatever reason, so move or I can go keep him company instead.” Chloé demanded.

“Yeah, that aint happening. You gonna be okay with her Marinette?” But she was already fast asleep. The blogger scowled at Chloé.

“Oh what? You think I’m gonna try something while she’s sleeping? Please if I were to try anything I’d want her to be awake to see it.” Chloé scoffed.

“Right…” Alya said, dispersing to sit next to her boyfriend.

The blonde sat next to the sleeping Marinette, on her phone. A good number of times she took her eyes off her phone and gazed upon her. “Why does she have to look so cute even when she’s sleeping?” The blonde thought to herself. She pulled out her blanket and placed it over the ravenette. “Stupid cute Marinette, thinks she’s so… cute.” She muttered.

Up front Alya sat next to Nino. “Hey boo.” She said. But he was deep in his headphones, so she took one off. “Hey… boo.” She said with more emphasis.

“Oh, hey Alya.” He replied, placing his arm over her.

The blogger turned to see Adrien and Sabrina sitting across from them, chatting it up a bit. “Kind of weird you’d wanna hang out with her Adrien.”

The blonde feigned innocence. “Well you see Sabrina’s a really good friend to Chloé and seeing as she’s always helping her I thought I’d get to know her a little more.” He chuckled nervously.

“I think I know what’s going on.” Alya said sardonically. She pointed at him. “This guy…” Adrien gulped nervously, hoping Alya wouldn’t find out the real reason he sat next to the redhead. “This guy… is in love with Sabrina!” Not the answer he was expecting, but if it kept Alya in the dark then he was fine with it.

“Uhh… yeah. Yep I have a crush on Sabrina.” He said nervously. “Always thought her um... glasses were cute.”

“Hey! I wear glasses too.” Alya replied.

“And uh… you look gorgeous too, but something about Sabrina it’s… hard to explain.” He said.

The redhead turned away, Adrien crushing on her? That had to be a load, no way he’d ever crush on her.

In the back, a bump from the train shook Marinette awake. “Hey Alya, are we back?” She looked down to see the blanket and turned to thank her. “Oooh, Alya thanks for the--” But then she noticed the blonde sitting in her place. “Chloé? What the--”

“Adrikins asked me to sit by you or Nino to keep you company and Miss Nosey chose to sit by Nino.” Chloé replied.

Marinette looked at the blanket, then Chloé. “Wait why did you--?”

“Because I... hate that blanket.” She said.

“You and the excuses.” Marinette said. “But I think it’s cute.”

“Yeah well… you can keep it, I got hundreds.” She replied, rolling her eyes. “Plus it touched you so it’s no longer special.”

“Uh huh, sure.” She said, neatly folding the blanket. “You surely sure you want me to keep this? Cause it’s really cute.”

“Yes I’m sure.” Chloé said, rolling her eyes again.

Marinette smiled at her. “Typical Chloé.” She uttered. But the kiss then came to mind. “So about what happened at the restaurant--”

“Shhhh!” Chloé said, placing her finger on Marinette’s mouth. She then gestured to the dining car. Marinette walked back with the blonde, somewhat nervous about what she was going to do, but also wanting some closure to that unexpected kiss. They went to the middle car in between the cars. “Listen to me, none of that ever happened.”

“What? But--”

The blonde lowered her voice to a whisper. “Do you have any idea what would happen if my daddy found out?” She asked. “We keep that kiss between us.”

“Wait what does that mean?” Marinette asked. “I just wanted to know why you did it.”

Tears began to well up in Chloé’s eyes. “I messed up.” She replied.

Marinette was surprised. “What?”

“All this time I had been good at keeping my feelings at bay, but you just had to go and fall in love with me for whatever reason.” The blonde clenched her fists in irritation, but then released them in sadness. “If it were you, you could show it.” She said.

“Chloé I… I never knew you felt this way. How long has it been?” Marinette asked.

“Since I met you.” She quietly uttered.

Marinette placed her hand on the blonde’s shoulder, but flinched; expecting her to swat it away. But to her amazement, the blonde simply sunk her head. The designer was searching for the right words to say. She hadn’t been prepared for any of this. “Chloé…” She said, the blonde looked up at her. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and held her chin up. “...tell me why.”

While choking back tears she spoke. “If my parents ever knew, they’d die of shame. Your family is middle class so you’d be written off as some ‘gold digger’ even though I never saw you as that.” Chloé said.

“They don’t have to know.” Marinette said. Chloé’s eyes widened. “I’d never tell anyone.”

“You wouldn’t?” Chloé sniffled.

“Oh god, you’re dripping snot.” Marinette said, pulling out a tissue. “There.”

The blonde accepted it and wiped her nose. “Why are you into me all of a sudden?” She asked. “Was it the ticket?”

Marinette nodded. “When you dove for it I didn’t know what to think. It was like I saw a whole other you and I guess I… fell for that other you. The real you.” She then recalled what Tikki and Adrien said. “But then I asked a few friends… and I didn’t say it was you I swear!” She affirmed before continuing. “One told me that I never got to know the real you like I should have. And the other told me that my feelings for you might be stronger than the feelings I thought I had for him.”

Chloé’s eyes began to widen. “Him?” She asked.

“Yeah.” She scratched her head. “I thought I was in love with this guy and then I figured out I wasn’t.”

“Was it by any chance Adrien?” Chloé wondered. Marinette nodded. And that’s when it hit Chloé, Adrien caught on and he’s trying to give them an excuse to spend time together. “And you don’t feel anything with him anymore?”

“Well I… kissed him.” Chloé gasped. “And when I did I didn’t feel the spark, he was a good kisser don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t feel what I felt when…” Marinette hesitated, wondering what to say next.

“When I kissed you?” Chloé asked, her eyes lighting up. Marinette nodded. “But… we can’t.” She said. “If we did, it’d be the end of me. I’d lose everything I worked for.”

“Chloé…” The ravenette said, finding the words to comfort her and barely knowing what to say. “It doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it right? You can tell me.” The blonde turned back, unsure if she could live with that. She thought of Marinette as more than a frenemy and now with Marinette beginning to feel the same way it puts Chloé in an odd position. Unsure of what to do, she turned back to see Marinette with a reassuring smile. “Chloé…” She said. “Kiss me again please?” She puckered her lips and closed her eyes, planning to stay like this for ten seconds. She was giving Chloé a choice on if she wanted to do this or not. “Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven.” She counted backwards, out loud and in a whisper. The blonde stared for a moment, wondering what to do next. “Six. Five. Four.” She took a deep breath and moved closer to the ravenette. “Three. Two.” Marinette opened her eyes to see Chloé, mere inches in front of her. “One?” She asked. With that she gently leaned forward and kissed the ravenette. Marinette kissed back, the two held each other. Once more Marinette felt the spark, Chloé felt the same. The blonde broke the kiss and gazed into her eyes.

“Marinette, you really promise you won’t tell anyone?” The blonde asked in a sweet tone.

Marinette nodded. “No one needs to know.” She said. And with that they resumed their kiss. Tikki peeked at this from her bag, but quickly closed it; believing the two girls deserved some privacy during such an intimate moment. She left to roam the cabin, only to find Plagg rummaging through the dining car pantry for cheese.

“Do you ever stop eating?” Tikki asked the little black kwami.

“I’m hungry.” Plagg replied. “And kind of annoyed that your bug passed up my cat for that girl.”

Tikki was irritated hearing this. “She has a choice Plagg! And your cat was perfectly fine with it!”

“Yeah cause he doesn’t know she’s Ladybug.” Plagg replied. “If he did, I’d hate to be that girl.”

“Maybe if you’d actually talk to him about it instead of stuffing your face he wouldn’t throw so many tantrums.” Tikki said.

“What are you saying I’m a bad influence?” He replied, offended.

“Well you’re definitely not helping! I know you want him to be happy, but you can’t push him towards someone who doesn’t return his feelings.” Plagg turned around, thinking about what Tikki said.

“She just doesn’t know she loves him yet. It’s destiny Tikki.”

“I liked to think your cat wasn’t the problem. But now I know he isn’t, it’s you that’s the problem!” The red kwami said, she left him and returned to the bag. The two girls had just finished their kiss. Tikki stared up at them, worried about how Plagg’s misguided attempts to bring Ladybug and Cat Noir together could and likely will come to be a problem. Especially with Chloé dating her bug in secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah the Adrien/Sabrina bit might be a little tacked on, but I figured it'd fit with the idea that Adrien was grasping at straws to keep the whole thing a secret.
> 
> As for the Plagg thing, might be a bit salty, but honestly I could see him doing this. In his mind he's just trying to help Adrien, but Plagg being... Plagg of course he's gonna mess it up.


	6. Chapter 6

Plagg contemplated what Tikki had said, was Adrien really not the one for Marinette? That couldn’t be, all Ladybugs and Chat Noirs end up together. This all baffled him, to put a cherry on top Tikki was okay with it. How? She knew that it was part of the foretold prophecy. “Screw the prophecy.” Tikki thought to herself. As long as Marinette was happy, she didn’t care about any of that. Plagg was a total wildcard anyway so he’d likely cave the whole planet just to bring them together.

Chloé and Marinette slept next to each other peacefully in their seats, with Marinette cuddling Chloé. The blonde was happy, finally cuddling with the girl she had been infatuated with for so long. She figured if anyone saw, she could write it off as having a dream about Adrien. With how crazy she was over him it was believable. At the very least Alya would buy it.

Up towards the front of the coach Sabrina decided to engage Adrien. “So you have a crush on me?” The redhead asked, intrigued.

The blonde boy nervously looked around, searching for the right words. “I… uh… well I…” All that came out of his mouth was complete gibberish. Sabrina might not have been the brightest, but she could tell Adrien was hiding something. “I think you have… cute hands.” He smacked his face with his hand, realizing the stupidity of what he just said.

Sabrina’s eyelids drooped, unamused. “Nice hands?” She asked. “Is that really the best you could come up with? Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?”

Adrien sighed. “Alright, you got me. I’m not actually in love with you, but I can’t tell you.” He said.

Sabrina huffed. “Chloé can tell you, but not me? I’m her friend too, you know?”

“It’s not my secret to tell Sabrina, end of story.” The boy affirmed.

The train stopped and everyone began to deboard. Alya went back to check on Marinette, who had just woken up. “Hey Alya,” she said groggily “did I oversleep or what?”

“Girl, you always oversleep.” The brunette inspected Marinette’s body to ensure Chloé hadn’t done anything to her. “No marker, no gum, no nothing.” She stood upright once more. “Wow girl, she actually let you sleep peacefully.”

“Yeah, guess she was having a good day today.” Marinette replied. She nudged the blonde. “Hey,” she whispered “wake up sleepyhead.” Chloé slowly woke up to the sight of Marinette in front of her.

“Could you please back up.” She said, eyes furrowing.

“Sorry.” Marinette replied, backing up to give the blonde room. However she leaned too far towards the arm rest and almost fell. However, Chloé grasped her wrist to prevent her from falling and pulled her upright. “Thank you.” She said. 

“Honestly, am I your fall catcher now?” She replied in a stiff tone. Without any complaints she packed her bag and left to rejoin Sabrina.

“Man, she’s more polite than usual.” Alya noted.

“Well we did… uh talk about my designs and it bored her to… um sleep.” Marinette replied, sheepishly giggling at the end.

Alya held her thumb under her chin and rubbed it with her index finger. Something was definitely going on, but she couldn’t quite fathom what. Her and Marinette deboarded the train, both ready to head home. But they quickly joined the crowd gathered.

“Excuse me? Since when is my every movement your business!” Chloé yelled.

Sabrina marched up with a nasty glare. “You’re hiding something from me and I want to know what! Adrien having a crush on me?” She replied, turning to the boy. “You’re a terrible liar!”

Adrien winced. “Sabrina I--”

But the redhead cut him off. “Don’t start with me Adrien! You’re in on whatever this is, you gotta be! And obviously Marinette is since why else would Chloé ever want to sit next to her?!”

“Gotta improvise.” Marinette thought to herself. “Uh… we… uh… formed a truce!” She blurted.

The entire class gasped, some just about fainted. It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t quite the whole truth.

“A truce?” Nino asked.

“Yeah what of it?” Chloé huffed.

“You two have hated each other since forever.” Max replied.

Chloé placed her arm around Marinette. “We’re friends now, deal with it!” She scoffed.

Alya raised a brow. “Have you flipped Girl?”

“We uh... decided to start fresh, that’s all.” Marinette replied. “Nothing wrong with that right?”

The brunette shrugged. “Guess not.” She folded her arms judgingly. 

Alix chimed in. “But still, no way you two put years of feuding aside for one day.”

“Things change Alix, I mean did you ever think you’d ever end up with Max?” Marinette said. “No offense Max.”

“It’s cool, I’m only 6% offended.” He replied.

“Point taken, but c’mon! You! Her! Friends now?! That quick?!” Alix said.

“Like I said, things change.” Marinette replied. “You happy now Sabrina? We can be friends too if you want.”

The redhead scowled. “Fine, but don’t expect any favors!”

But then a looming slow clap was heard. “Bravo.” The sinister voice said. “You two are friends now.”

“Problem Lila?” Marinette replied.

“Oh no problem, just thinking about what Alix said. Seems rather suspicious you two are oh so suddenly friends when I could recall just this morning you two were arguing.” Lila said.

Chloé let out a shrill cackle. “Don’t tell me you’re actually jealous!” She yelled.

“No, just sorry for you. Marinette’s obviously brainwashed you.” Lila replied. However, Adrien got in-between them.

“Chloé enough!” He said. “Lila leave it alone.” Plagg viewed the scene in the corner of his pocket, Lila just might be the key to getting his boy with Ladybug. The whole thing being secret was the only thing stopping him from telling Adrien. But with Marinette being the guardian, things felt really odd. Chloé already caused enough trouble teaming up with Hawk Moth and now she was dating her? Adding to that, most of the other kwamis would likely take Tikki’s side, Plagg was outvoted.

Lila backed off, with the rest of the class dispersing to head home. Chloé approached her limo. “I guess we’re friends now.” She said in a huff, doing her utmost best to stay convincing.

“I… guess we are.” Marinette replied in the same huffy tone.

Chloé folded her arms. “Which… is good.”

Marinette returned the gesture. “I… know.”

But then the blonde leaned towards the ravenette’s ear. “Thank you… sweetheart.” She whispered, kissing her cheek just before she pulled away. It was out of view so no one saw.

Marinette clutched her right cheek and blushed. “You’re welcome.” She replied.

The limo drove off, and during the ride home the blonde showed a notable mood improvement, by Chloé standards at least. She was still snippy in tone, but did not raise her voice as much. Instead of angrily demanding things when she was told she couldn’t have them, she simply replied with a snooty “whatever”, barely thinking about it. 

Even going to bed, her entire demeanor had changed. For the first time in a while, she was smiling. Sabrina lay next to her, noticing her friend’s slightly more cheerful demeanor. “How are you Chloé?” She asked nervously.

“I suppose I feel less like everyone is useless.” She replied.

The redhead’s tone became more confident. “So you’re really friends with Marinette now?” She asked.

“Yes, me and her are friends.” She replied. “If you’re worried about getting replaced, don't be. You’re much better at doing homework.”

“Thank you Chloé.” Sabrina replied. 

Sabrina went to sleep content, Chloé soon after. While her dreams of Marinette did continue, they felt different. She felt more free, as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. This dream involved the two going out to dinner, feeling at ease. However in the middle of their chat, suddenly a giant arm karate chopped the table they were sitting at in half. The giant arm belonged to her mother.

“What did we tell you about dating someone middle class Chloé? Oh and it’s a girl no less.” Audrey said, picking up Marinette and tossing her.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” Chloé yelled before waking up. She panted, trying to slow her heartbeat by breathing in and out. With each in and out breath, her heart rate slowed before she eventually calmed down. Scared, she quickly texted on her phone:

_TheOnlyQueenBee 3:43 am: Marinette? As soon as you get this, please call me. *crying emoji*_

Chloé kept her phone close, desperate for her girlfriend to reply. This time, Sabrina was still asleep. 

Asleep in her room, Marinette heard her phone buzz. Half awake, she picked it up to check it. She awoke to Chloé’s panicked text, unsure of whether or not she wanted to just go see her.

_Marinette 3:45 am: It’s okay, I’m here._

The text read, she then proceeded to call the panicking blonde. When she picked up all she could hear was sobbing. “Chloé… are you okay?” She asked nervously.

“I’m scared Marinette.” She said. “I had a nightmare... where my mom found out…” she said, as she began to choke on her tears “and she separated us forever.” Between each word all Marinette could hear was heavy breathing and sniffling. Chloé would occasionally check on Sabrina to see if she was still sleeping.

“Chloé.” Marinette said calmly. “You just had a nightmare, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“But what if it comes true?” Chloé asked.

“Well it hasn’t, let’s not focus on what-ifs okay Chloé?”

Soon after, the blonde’s heartbeat returned to normal. She couldn’t quite figure out what was going on, but hearing Marinette’s voice kept her calm. Her sobbing ceased and she was able to collect herself. In the past she’d cry into tomorrow morning, but this was different. Marinette made her feel more comfortable, it was like she could find the off switch. “Thank you Marinette, I’ll see you in the morning?” She asked.

“Yes Chloé, I’ll see you tomorrow too.” The ravenette replied.

“Night baby, I love you.”

“Good night, I love you too.”

The two hung up and Chloé went to bed peacefully. Marinette laid on her bed, thinking about all this. She was worried for the blonde even if she managed to calm her down. But then she took a breath, realizing they could worry about this tomorrow. As long as it didn’t get out, there wouldn’t be any problems. But a world without problems doesn’t exist.


	7. Chapter 7

Another morning came. Marinette forced herself out of bed and got ready for the day. Coming down the stairs the first people she saw were Alya and Alix.

“Hey,” Alix said.

“You two are here early,” Marinette replied.

Alya took a step forward, “Okay girl, I wanna know the whole story.”

“Whole story?” Marinette wondered, raising a brow.

“Yeah, the whole story about how you and Chloé are so buddy-buddy all of a sudden!” The brunette yelled.

“Yeah!” Alix joined.

“I already told you.”

“Yeah there’s gotta be more to the story than just that,” Alya replied, “I gotta know.”

“No you don’t ‘gotta know’,” Marinette said, fingers in air quotations, but then her tone suddenly rose, “if it really bugs you that much just say it!”

The duo’s eyes widened, they weren’t expecting Marinette to snap like this, much less at them. But who could blame her? They come into her house unannounced demanding answers for something that really isn’t as big of a deal as they’re making it out to be.

Alya took a breath. “No, no it’s nothing like that girl, it’s just Chloé… you know how she is.”

“And did it ever cross your mind that I just wanted all of this to stop? That I felt we could start fresh? Just because it’s Chloé doesn’t mean I can’t right?” The dark-haired girl began cooking her breakfast.

“Fine,” Alya said, “don’t tell your best friend why you’re friends with the enemy now!” Marinette flipped her the bird, Alix was beginning to get nervous.

“O-kay,” Alix said. “I think it’s time for us to go, later Marinette.” But she didn’t even reply, the feeling of being interrogated in your own home by your so-called best friend wasn’t exactly “friendly.”

The two walked out. “Damn, you really went off in there don’t you think?”

“What did you expect? Me to just sit by and take this?” Alya said.

“I doubt it’ll last, for all we know she’s probably doing this just to get Adrien,” Alix replied, attempting to reassure the irritated Alya.

Alya simply growled, not entirely convinced. She hated Chloé with a burning passion and something about seeing Marinette get all friendly with her didn’t sit right with her. As much as she liked to think Adrien was the reason, he seemed to know more than he was letting on. Alix looked around and immediately tugged on Alya’s sleeve.

“Akuma!” She yelled.

“Good,” Alya replied. She stared at it, waiting for it to come to her. Alix quickly thinking, tackled the brunette, reached under her armpits and began tickling her.

Alya started laughing. “Alix, ha ha ha! What the fuck?! Ha ha!” True to form the akuma began to leave, unable to detect her irritation over her laughter. Laughter was associated with being happy, so akumas could not detect negative emotions over laughter.

“Go the fuck away!” Alix yelled to the akuma, continuing to tickle Alya. Only after the akuma was out of her sight for more than 30 seconds did she stop.

“What the fuck Alix?! I was this close to solving the Chloé problem!” The brunette yelled, holding her thumb and index finger close together.

“With an akuma? Are you trying to kill her?” Alix asked skeptically.

“No!” She yelled. “I was just gonna get some answers out of her!”

“With an akuma?”

“How else would you do it? Ask her politely?”

“What about Adrien? I mean maybe we could ask Sabrina, but even she seemed shocked by the whole thing.”

Alya put her hand to her chin and rubbed it. “If Sabrina wasn’t in on it, something’s definitely going on.”

“We’ll ask Adrien, we get in his face enough he’s bound to crack. I mean he’s friends with Chloé too.”

“True, true,” Alya thought, wondering just how much he actually knew.

When Chloé arrived at school she didn’t make her usual spectacle of herself. Having that nightmare really put her on edge and even Sabrina began to notice.

“Chloé,” She placed her arm on the blonde’s shoulder. Which was enough to light a fire in her belly.

“I don’t need you to worry Sabrina, I can handle myself! Now where’s Marinette?” She asked Alya, who looked just about ready to explode.

“Why do you care Chloé?” Alya asked bitterly.

“Don’t answer my question with a question blogger girl! Is it so wrong I want to hang out with my friend before class?”

Alya still wasn’t completely convinced, but before she could say anymore Marinette showed up uncharacteristically early.

“Hey Chloé,” she said, “Alya…” her tone with the latter sounding a bit less happy.

“Marinette,” Alya replied, emitting the same tone.

Without a word, she walked away with Chloé, leaving Alya with Alix and Sabrina.

“You feeling better?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah, sorry about last night.”

“It’s cool Chlo.” The blonde giggled at this, Adrien calling her ‘Chlo’ she was used to, but Marinette doing it was a whole other story. Regardless, it still made her happy.

“What the fuck are they talking about?!” Alya rhetorically asked, watching from afar.

“I can help you with this Alya,” Sabrina chirped, looking for any reason she could to help the angry blogger.

Alya scowled in thought. “I say we talk to Adrien, figure out what the hell he’s hiding from us.”

Back at the other end of the courtyard Chloé sat on the bench, the nightmare once again getting to her.

“You okay Chlo?” Marinette asked.

“Oh fine,” Chloé said, her focus returning to Marinette. “If I can I wanna stop by your place.”

Marinette smiled hearing this. “Sure thing, what do you wanna do when we’re there?”

“Well what do you do?”

“Gaming, watching anime, and coming up with designs.”

“Whichever one works for you.”

The girls went to class and sat with their friends to avoid suspicion. Unfortunately, the bad blood between Marinette and Alya had not died down. Marinette didn’t even bother to say a word to her, instead keeping her eyes on Chloé, who had been oddly nice during class.

“Okay girl, what did you do to her?” Alya asked, finally speaking up.

“Nothing, this is the real Chloé you’re seeing Alya. Once you get to know her she’s actually not a complete cunt. What’s your problem with this anyway?”

“My problem is you do this behind my back and it seems far too easy to have happened without a hitch.”

“So you don’t want me to bury the hatchet?”

“No girl, it's nothing like that! I just don’t trust her is all, I’m trying to make sure she doesn’t dupe you.”

“Dupe me? Like Lila’s done to you?!”

Alya clenched her fist and slammed the table. “Lila is a wonderful girl! If you can’t realize that, that’s your problem!”

Lila began to giggle. “Now Alya, don’t be so hard on Marinette. I’m sure she has her reasons for being Chloé’s friend. Want to tell us Marinette?”

The dark-haired girl began to stutter, but before she could formulate a response a resounding “hey!” was heard. “If she doesn’t want to tell you, why don’t you keep your nosey noses out of her butt and leave her alone!” Chloé yelled, not the most elegant defense, but then again elegance was never Chloé’s forte.  
“You seriously need to chill out blogger girl, you just might pop a blood vessel,” she callously winked at the angry bespectacled girl.

“Eh thanks Chloé,” Marinette said timidly.

Without hesitation Chloé turned to Sabrina. “I think you and Marinette should switch seats, I bet she hates having to be stuck in front of that all day.”

“But Chloé, I always sit here.”

The blonde didn’t even bother to correct her, instead turning to Marinette. “Care to sit here? Sabrina will trade you.”

“Sure Chloé,” Marinette said.

Without hesitation Chloé ushered Sabrina out of her seat so Marinette could sit by her. “But Chloé,” the redhead said, “what about me?”

“Oh please, you can make friends with anyone. They’ll love you up there, you’ll thank me later.”

On the way up Sabrina intentionally bumped Marinette’s shoulder, something that earned the ire of Chloé. Lila simply giggled, Alya would’ve been pissed, but with how Marinette’s been acting lately it she didn’t feel obligated to be. Adrien watched the scene with a critical eye.

“You okay Marinette?” The boy asked.

“Yeah,” She replied feebly, looking on the verge of tears.

“Oh fine,” Chloé said, trying to make it look like she didn’t care too much, but once she put her arm around Marinette she whispered, “it’s okay love.”

Marinette took a breath, not noticing the approaching akuma, having Chloé comforting her made it go away. On most days she’d be the cause, but today was different. Marinette knew Chloé was there for her as much as she was for Chloé and she also figured Alya would mellow out in due time so all of her problems were as far as she knew: solved. She did her best to stay calm and Chloé helped as much as she could.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time the day was over, Marinette felt much better. “I’m sorry, Chloé--”

“It was never your fault,” she reassured her girlfriend, “so I’m gonna fix my makeup real quick? You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you by the door?”

“Sure thing Marinette.”

Adrien walked past them to his limo without a word and the second he got home he simply flopped onto his bed. It was bad enough a good chunk of the school was against the idea of Marinette and Chloé being friends, but if it ever got out that they were dating… it’d get nasty.  
Plagg’s opinion of it was still sour. Ever since this whole thing started, nothing felt the same. Adrien was still very much in love with Ladybug, the only thing preventing the little black kwami from telling Adrien the truth was the spell put on him. Or was it? Fu was no longer the guardian and with Marinette’s ownership, a whole new set of spells was put in place. Then again outing Ladybug could have a whole new set of consequences.

“So Adrien, I’ve been thinking, you know how Pigtails is dating that bratty friend of yours now?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think she’s right for her, I mean you’ve seen how that brat is. You know her best.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “I ‘know’ that she and Marinette are happy together, and who am I to get in the way of that?”

“Adrien, I’m begging you. Please think about this.”

“No Plagg, I’m not breaking them up, end of story.”

Defeated, the kwami simply went to the bed to eat his cheese. But then he remembered Lila and the confrontation between her and Marinette at the train station. She was someone who was willing to get her hands dirty, but then again he couldn’t betray his wielder like that, could he? On the one hand it could be a sure way to keep the prophecy in check, on the other Adrien would know and it could have some nasty repercussions.

Later that night, Adrien was sound asleep and Plagg slowly began to remove his ring from Adrien’s finger, “steady now…” he told himself. He was moving as slowly and carefully as possible as to not wake the boy. After what seemed like an eternity of pulling he was able to get the ring off.   
“I’m sorry Adrien, but I can’t let this happen!” He told himself, taking the ring to Lila’s apartment. A tear formed in the kwami’s eye, doing this hurt him, but he knew it was to keep the prophecy in check. With hesitation he entered the brunette’s room. “Greetings.”

“What?! Who are you?!” Lila gasped.

“I am… uh the kwami of destruction and this ring… is the Miraculous of the Black Cat,” the kwami stammered nervously.

“The kwami of the black cat? So you’re Cat Noir’s...?”

“I am, I had to take ownership because I have a very serious problem!”

“Oh? What is it?”

“It’s Ladybug, she’s seeing someone who’s not Cat Noir and it’s going to mess up the balance! I tried to get Ladybug’s kwami to help me, but she said no!”

“And you need me to remove this little obstacle from Ladybug’s life?” Lila mused.

“Yes, I normally wouldn’t do this but--” without hesitation the brunette placed the ring on her finger, realising that this would give her a better chance to get rid of Ladybug.

“With pleasure, what is your name again?”

“Plagg and in order to transform you just need to say ‘Plagg, claws out’ and then you’ll do it.”

A wistful smirk crawled it’s way onto the girl’s face. “Plagg, claws out,” she calmly spoke. And with that she transformed into the black cat, but what to name herself? She thought of a few names, but ultimately came up with one she felt had a nice ring to it. “I will be ‘Gatta Nera’” she thought to herself.  
She was tempted to start searching for the spotted heroine immediately, but ultimately decided an akuma attack would be a better bet. It’d leave Ladybug vulnerable and give Gatta Nera a better chance.

___

Marinette was staying the night at Chloé’s, knowing the more time she spent there, the better Chloé would feel. As long as her parents thought Marinette was there to help her study, they didn’t have too much to worry about.

“Thanks for sticking up for me today, Chlo.”

The blonde blushed once more. “Please, those idiots were about ready to devour you.”

“Well,” she paused nervously, “me and Alya had a bit of a fight this morning… and it involved you…”

Chloé’s eyebrows furrowed and her arms folded. “She’s just jealous is all, Sabrina’s been grumpy about it too. She told me she has a lot of homework, but I know she usually gets it done well before this time. Something’s up.”

“I just feel bad is all, Alya’s my friend.”

“If she was your true friend she’d understand, she just doesn’t like me is all.”

Marinette thought long and hard about this, when has Alya ever helped Marinette when it wasn’t for her own benefit? Was she a bad friend? Is Marinette the bad friend? Does being friends with Chloé, let alone her lover really bother her that much? She didn’t know. Just then Chloé’s butler came in.

“Mademoiselle do you and Miss Dupain-Cheng require anything?”

“Oh, I’m okay,” Marinette replied nervously, “maybe some vanilla ice cream?”

“Strawberry for me Jean-Joe, and if Sabrina comes by tell her she can go home,” Chloé demanded, “and don’t let anyone else in tonight!”

“Certainly mademoiselle.”

“So you wanna watch me sketch something? I can show you a few tricks.”

“Sure, your designs are the best.”

Marinette began sketching with Chloé watching closely. “See what I do is outline my design, look around at my surroundings and think about what colors go good with the shapes. For example, take some pink and maybe you could add some velvet red on here and… a design is born!”

“So you just do whatever comes to mind, seems hard.”

“You can do it too Chloé, go on think of something.”

Chloé thought about it and began sketching and the difference was clear. Marinette’s drawings were neater, while Chloé’s were simple doodles. “Gah! Being left-handed makes this harder, utterly harder!”

Marinette snickered. “You just need practice is all, not bad for a first attempt.”

“How did you get so good?”

“Nathaniel taught me a few tricks, took me a few months to get it down.”

“Yeah, but he can do it with both hands!”

“He can do a lot of things with those hands,” Marinette said before gasping at the realization of how suggestive that compliment was.

“You know I can do things with my hands too,” Chloé smirked, before pouncing on Marinette to tickle her. Naturally the dark-haired girl began laughing.

“Chloé… a-ha-ha-ha… what the ha-ha fahahack?”

“You’re so cute when you laugh I had to.”

After exhausting themselves the two simply lay on the ground, Marinette panting from laughing so hard and Chloé laying hands behind her head, satisfied. The moment was broken by a knock on the door and the two scrambled to their feet. “Come in.” The two said in unison.  
In came Butler Jean with their ice cream, but standing behind him was none other than Audrey. “Hello Chloé,” she turned her glare to the girl next to her, “Marinette…” she uttered, a hint of disdain in her voice.

“H-hello, Mrs. Bourgeois,” Marinette stammered.

As Jean set the ice cream down, Audrey took a seat. “Working on a project I hear?”

“Yeah, Marinette had a few designs in mind and she wanted my help.” Audrey simply rolled her eyes hearing this.

“And I thought it was homework, sidetracked I take it?”

“A bit mom,” Chloé replied sheepishly, a hint of fear in her voice.

“Good, because tomorrow you won’t have to worry about ‘homework’ here anymore.”

Chloé cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“I’m having you transferred to a school in New York. You’ll finally get to work with me, oh and Marinette it’s a good thing you’re here,” a malicious smirk crawled it’s way on to Audrey’s face, “you can be the first person she says goodbye to.” Chloé’s jaw could’ve dropped to the floor in shock, while Marinette took a step back in horror. “Is something the matter young lady?” Audrey asked, noticing the dark-haired girl’s increasing anxiety, she was on the verge of a panic attack.

“Oh… uh… nothing, I… just… didn’t expect that is all,” Marinette replied, attempting to cover up her panic.

“Good, we leave tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your little… playdate,” she walked out, Jean following apologetically.

“I’m sorry mademoiselle, I couldn’t tell you,” he sighed, gently shutting the door.

The two stood silently for quite some time, lost in thought. Chloé, moving away? This was horrible, and worse yet her mom didn’t even tell her. It seemed like an eternity before one of them finally spoke.

“My mom’s taking me to New York…” one could swear Chloé had used up the last of her breath saying those words. After her heavy breathing ceased, Marinette began to sob. She did her best to stifle it, but the news was just too much.

“I don’t want you to go!” She choked out, hugging Chloé, who was quick to hug back. Those were the only words she could get out, her muffled sobs from burying her face in Chloé’s chest were all that could be heard out of her.

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” Chloé whispered, for the first time ever those words being directed at Marinette herself, “I never knew,” but then she began sobbing as well, “I never knew my mom would do this!”

“First Alya doesn’t like us together, then your mom forces you out of Paris!” Marinette was just about ready to implode, she couldn’t speak anymore, her sobs overpowering her. Realizing she was going to have a difficult time calming down, Chloé simply helped the dark-haired girl onto her bed and stayed beside her until she calmed down, which took a while. Once she did she offered to drive Marinette home, reassuring her that she will talk to her mother. Marinette agreed, but still felt overwhelmed and once she hit her room, she lay on her bed, feeling heavy.

“Tikki, what do I do?”

“I think this might be out of your hands Marinette, but you have to keep calm.”

“I know,” she simply uttered, unwilling to get up. She just laid in her bed, thinking about how Chloé must feel with all this. Her quick thinking was probably the only thing preventing Marinette from being akumatized since despite her worries, she had faith in her girlfriend to find a compromise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of this story, don't fret though for I have a sequel planned that will tackle the problems this chapter opened up.


End file.
